This invention relates generally to household appliance controls and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling appliances in accordance with religious customs.
Some religious customs, such as, for example, Orthodox Jewish customs, generally forbid doing work on the Sabbath and certain religious Holidays. The proscription of work extends even to the operation of household appliances, in which any action that causes the appliance to change state generally violates the custom. Thus, for example, user action that results in direct heating or cooling, beeping, illumination, and reading and writing by various components of an appliance are in violation of these religious customs.
Known electronic appliance controls, such as those for ovens and refrigerators, typically includes a variety of indicators, alarms, and functions that are incompatible with these religious customs.
In an exemplary embodiment, an appliance control system is configured to operate an appliance in at least a normal mode and a holiday mode wherein normal mode operation of appliance feature elements is altered to better conform to religious customs, such as Orthodox Jewish customs. In response to user manipulation of a control interface panel, the control system is configured to enter the holiday mode upon user manipulation of the control interface panel with a designated key sequence. When in the holiday mode, response to user manipulation of the control interface panel is delayed for a randomly determined time, and appliance features of the normal mode that violate religious custom are disabled.
More specifically, implementation of new appliance element settings and display of associated indicators are delayed for respective randomly determined time periods of about 5 seconds to about 35 seconds. Appliance lamps, audio indicators, and other active functional elements that would violate religious custom are disabled in the holiday mode.
The holiday mode is entered when at least one input key is depressed in a designated sequence, thereby avoiding inadvertent activation of the holiday mode during, for example, cleaning of the appliance. The holiday mode is exited or terminated when the designated key sequence is again entered by the user. Thus, at any convenient time before the Sabbath or religious holiday begins, the appliance holiday mode may be easily entered by pressing a designated key sequence, and oven features are automatically adjusted to better conform to religious custom. After the Sabbath or holiday is over, holiday mode is easily exited and normal operation returned by again pressing a designated key sequence.